We All Need to Eat

So … I was on food stamps.

It was 2002, and we didn’t refer to them as food stamps at that point, as most states replaced the coupons of previous years for a card that had money loaded on it, called an EBT (electronic benefit transfer) card. (The current nomenclature “SNAP—Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program” was established in 2008.) The EBT card took the stigma out of the using food stamps in a grocery store in front of other customers. To most of them it just looked like a debit card.

I was living in Oklahoma, and I qualified for food stamps because I was a VISTA volunteer. (Quick version: VISTA—Volunteers In Service To America—was a part of AmeriCorps, kind of like the American version of the Peace Corp.) My particular program was a year-long commitment to participate in a volunteer capacity to support a community in need. The idea was to exist at the poverty level of my surroundings, so for that time, in Durant, OK, I was given a yearly stipend of $7,000.

Yeah, you read that right. $7,000 for the year, at a time when most people I knew taking entry-level jobs were making $25, $30K per year. And it’s not just that I had to figure out how to survive on that for the entire year (I was not allowed under the rules of the program to take on any other sources of income), but that this was the poverty level of the people in the community I was living in. At that time, minimum wage was $5.15 per hour, which translates to an annual salary of just over $10K. So a full-time worker wasn’t faring much better.

I know now, that sounds impossible. I remember after I left Oklahoma, I thought if I could land a job for $25,000 a year, it would feel like I was rollin’ in it. Truly.

The ability to qualify for the EBT card was essential at the time. My $7,000 went toward the other bills of life: gas, car insurance, water, electricity, phone. I had a gas water heater, and I often would negotiate my extras as unattainable. For example, a six pack was the exact amount of my $6 gas bill. A trip to Sonic once a week was a luxury (gosh, I miss those cherry limeaids). The money for new clothes was allotted for internet access.

I was lucky in that I was provided housing, not by VISTA, but by specific program I was working on. My apartment was dismal at best: roaches everywhere, mice in the walls, domestic violence in the unit upstairs. It was one of the greatest life lessons I could ever learn, and I’m grateful to have had it.

I also was lucky in the way that all privilege is lucky. I had it. I knew I wouldn’t have to exist on seven grand a year for the rest of my life. I didn’t have the mental load of feeling like a failure, or living in fear for my life, or wondering if the authorities would one day be at my door. My time there, truly, was most often peaceful. I had purpose, and I was working with kids and in the theater. It was a very freeing time.

I do wonder if it would have been the same experience if I hadn’t had food assistance. Would I have been buoyed by my community? Members of the church I attended? My co-workers? Would I have sought out a food pantry or just gone hungry? What if it wasn’t just me and my cat? What if there was a baby, or several children?

The point is that most people, me included, were aided greatly by food stamps. The overall concept in the program is simply to feed people and to help stimulate the economy in a time when our economy needs it.

The people in this country that hop on a social media app and posture, “Whaddya do with October’s benefits?” while eating a cookie are purposefully missing the point. The people crying about those that abuse the system are missing the point. The fraud rate, by the by, is 1 percent. And yes, USDA and FNS know about it. They go after those that try to play outside of the rules.

And honestly, if someone on this benefit program tries to defraud the system by buying a case of water to get the cash from the recycling return for what, six bucks? That person has bigger problems. You and I have bigger problems.

The people who are receiving SNAP or WIC or unemployment benefits are not taking away from you. They are not the enemy. The insurance company that wouldn’t cover the $9,000 back surgery your doctor authorized, and stuck you with the bill. That’s taking away from you. The people that are having to go to work without getting paid right now, because Congress can’t get it together. They’re taking away from you. The huge corporation that has you addicted to boxes on your doorstep while replacing its workers with AI and pocketing the profits. They’re taking away from you.

Quit being mad at the wrong people. Use your anger and rage-filled energy for good. Donate to a food pantry. Help your neighbors. Vote if there’s an election happening. But stop judging the Americans who will go hungry next month.